Making good time back to his Lab and noticing a lot of the robot uprising seems to have calmed... at least for now; Dexter spends a lot of this down time thinking. The crystal in his hands, the girl atop the tower, the voice in his head... all of this really. It doesn’t make any sense. It doesn’t seem to connect.

Before he reaches his lab he stops in his tracks, his thoughts lagging his movement. He eyes the glowing crystal, unsure of its purpose. It was important to that girl, but not important enough to claim the remainder of this crystal. It lets off small amounts of energy, but Dexter can’t make heads or tails of it.

He skates down the road- completely skipping the lab and heads over the Powerpuff Girls’ house.

(================================================)

“So... Lynn, is it?” Bubbles says, inside the house sitting next to a table, the only other person in the room being Lynn. The situation is almost uncomfortable. “Yeah, I’m... uh... new here.” Bubbles sips from the cup beside her, lost in thought. Something rare for her.

Lynn taps on the table uneasily. She looks out the window to the front yard, people still huddled together being defended by Blossom on point.

“Is it safe for them to stay here?” Lynn asks. “There are not very many places to go.” – “You could... help them leave the city.” – “And if the robots chase us down while we are running? I don’t think we can leave... I think we need to stay right here.” Bubbles says flatly, almost as if she were giving an order.

Lynn, curious yet annoyed puts both her hands on the table as Bubbles finishes whatever it is she was drinking, slurping loudly before placing it on the table.

“Why do we need to stay, Bubbles...?” She asks, inquisitive. She has not yet had the liberty to know Bubbles on a personal level, so she is not sure of her intentions. “We just... we just do. Something bad is going to happen. I just know it...” Lynn raises her eyebrow, but her expression remains the same.

“Do you?” – “Do ‘you’?”

The table goes silent. But unexpectedly, Bubbles is the one to break it.

“Don’t you remember me?”

(================================================)

Dexter skates down the road, eventually making it to the house of the Powerpuff Girls. He slows down as the people around notice him and gasp; through joy or fear is unknown. He does look strange, but perhaps people here recognize him and his machine-like toys.

Blossom flies down from the sky for a moment to talk to Dexter.

“How’s the lab?” – “Bad, I don’t think I can fix it.” – “Oh- that’s... d-darn.” She sputters, noticing even more people being brought in by the police. “Where’s Professor Utonium?” – “The Professor? He’s down in his lab. Why?” Dexter pulls something out of his pocket and shows it to her.

Her eyes go wide as she views the crystalline figure. “What... is it?” – “I don’t know. That’s what I need Utonium for.” He says as he puts it back into his pocket. He shuffles through the crowd into the building and enters. Blossom rises back up into the air to watch for robots, before she hears something chilling.

“Mommy? I’m hungry...” Blossom looks down to see a red haired girl tugging on her mom’s dress. She notices that after that comment, everyone around begins to silently come to the same consensus.

“Dang it... we didn’t prepare for this...” She looks back over Megaville, noticing a worm swimming through the city as if it were an ocean.

(================================================)

Knowing time is of the essence; Dexter doesn’t make time to greet Bubbles or her guest at the moment and heads straight into the lab. They turn back to their conversation, Bubbles seemingly emotional, Lynn tapping her fingers rhythmically upon the table, deep in thought.

“I... told you this would happen?” – “Y-Yes... are you saying you don’t remember?” She nods, still eyeing nothing but the table, fingernails tapping. “W-Well... it is very complicated... I don’t fully understand it either.” – “What did I tell you?” She asks, looking up. “I uh...”

Bubbles tries to find words, eyes nervously darting around the room. She takes a deep breath and tries to put words together.

“This is... the First Chronometal War... this takes place, after the Prologue, but I don’t know what that was. I think we missed it...” Bubbles continues to talk as Lynn nods, attentive. “Apparently... it was started by something called... Chronometal Model M...?” – “And do you remember who made that?” Bubbles gulps and nods, but says nothing. The gestures alone are enough for Lynn.

“I see. But the person who told you all of this? That wasn’t me.” – “I-It wasn’t...?” – “No, it must be a future version of me. Something tells me our efforts in this war will be in vain...” – “D-Don’t say that!” Bubbles yells out, rising from her chair as if Lynn were saying the exact words Bubbles was hoping she wouldn’t.

“We can’t give up... I know you all said it’s unstoppable, but we have to try! I won’t let you give up!” She says as she grasps Lynn’s wrist tightly and begins to run out the door. “H-Hey, what’s the big idea...?!” She stutters as she is led out of the house.

(================================================)

“So... what is it?” – “I think it’s some sort of... n-no... it’s a kind of...” Utonium stutters, analyzing the crystal in every way imaginable. “I don’t know... but I do know something.” He says monotonously as he removes the crystal from the identifying machine and puts it in Dexter’s hand. He moves it around a little bit in his hands, wondering if it got a little heavier all of a sudden?

“It’s bigger than when you brought it in. It’s growing, Dexter- whatever it is.” Dexter views it in his armored hands. The black light is eerie and it seems to be growing. But they still don’t know what it is. Dexter feels a faint rumbling in the ground and puts the Crystal back into the machine. “Keep me posted, I still have work to do.”

“We can’t give up, Lynn... all of the people you helped save... their lives won’t be in vain.” Bubbles says with a quaking voice. “I...” Lynn tries to say before she makes eye contact with the red headed girl’s mother from before.

“Lynn... can you come over here a second?” She asks, with a hint of worry in her voice. Bubbles and Lynn look at each other before Bubbles heads back inside. “Don’t abandon them...” She says before leaving sight. Lynn looks back over and takes a deep breath.

She nears the mother and they both kneel down to view the little girl sitting in the dirt. She looks up and her eyes go bright. “LYNN!” She yells as she rises to her feet and embraces her, but as she does that she hears her stomach growl and relents quickly.

“S-Sowry... I’m kind of hungry...” She says with her youthful tongue. “That’s what I called you over for, Lynn... Blossom said we are out of food, but she can’t afford to go look for any because the robots could attack at any moment. But...” She stops herself and looks around, making sure the coast is clear.

Lynn thinks to herself. Yes, she is a superhuman, but if she wants to remain incognito in this timeline, she needs to play it cool. If she is too well known, the knights could find her- if they haven’t already.

“Superhero...? No... I’m just an average person.” – “Oh... I see. From what Ruby told me I thought you were like... well like them.” She says, looking up at Blossom. “Nah, just your average run of the mill hero. No super powers here, sorry.” She smiles and nods. “It’s alright; it was a silly question anyway.” She laughs before she regains a serious demeanor. “Can you convince the Powerpuff girls to get us some food? I know they are doing all they can, but it will be night soon, some of us haven’t eaten since morning...”

Lynn nods and begins to walk back into the house. “I’ll see what I can do, hold on until then, okay?” She smiles and waves. “Thank you so much for all of this, Lynn!” Feeling a little warm inside, Lynn enters the door and walks inside; only to notice Bubbles was at the door the whole time.

“I’m... proud of you, Lynn.” She says, with a genuinely happy smile of her face! “D-Don’t mention it. Man, what’s with everyone and the mushy compliments today?” Still smiling, Bubbles begins to walk out of the house. “Wait, where are you going?” – “These people need food, I need to find some.” She says, before pausing and looking back.

“But, wait... ‘Aren’t’ you a Superhero?” She asks. “I...” She pauses, trying to find the words. “I can’t be known as one, not yet. I have to remain hidden for now, Bubbles. Please don’t tell anyone.” Bubbles, seemingly confused nods anyway. “Okay... just, if push comes to shove, please help these people with whatever powers you have, okay?” She flies off without awaiting a response from Lynn.

Lynn sighs and walks back out of the door, catching the eye of Ruby. “Where is Bubbles going, Lynn?” – “She’s going to find you guys some dinner!”

(================================================)

Dexter, near the border of the house, talks with Blossom.

“So... it’s growing? Do you have any idea what it is yet?” – “None whatsoever, not even the Professor can identify anything about it, yet.” He says, defeated. He feels a faint rumbling in the ground again and turns around. “Are you feeling that?” – “Feeling what?” Blossom asks, confused. She puts her hand to the ground and tries to feel what he’s feeling.

“Th-That, did you feel that?” – “I, uh... no... No I didn’t.” Dexter looks back at Blossom. “Am I going insane?” – “Or is your armor heightening your senses?” Dexter pauses and considers the possibility, still feeling the rumbling that Blossom can’t.

“Over here...” A faint voice calls out to Dexter as he turns around. He looks around, finding nothing. “Hello?” He asks, facing nothing but the city. ‘Maybe he is crazy?’ Blossom thinks to herself.

“You can’t see me? I know you can see me, look harder.” A faint girly voice whispers from areas unknown once more. Dexter squints in an attempt to see farther, but he cannot. “I can’t see you... where are you?” – “Your glasses... take them off...” The voice suggests. “M-My glasses? I need them to see right...” – “No you don’t take them off.”

Dexter, completely perplexed and considering the possibility that he is losing his mind takes off his glasses. Eyes still closed, he begins to slowly open them. What he sees astonishes him, forcing his eyes wide open! The entire world before him is so vivid! He has never seen anything like this outside of a microscope! “Holy c-crap...!” He stutters. Enjoying the views of whatever is happening to him; he notices something, very far away.

He squints and his vision seems to improve tenfold! At the end of his vision, he sees a blonde girl in a pink dress! “Is... Is that, you?” – “Yes, follow me!” She says, before taking off at startling speed! “O-Okay, Blossom... I’m going to find out what’s going on. I’ll be back soon!” – “Okay... bye-“ She tries to say before he’s already cannon-balling down the city. She cocks her head to the side, wondering what just happened.

(================================================)

Buttercup stands outside Megaville Elementary, guarding it from potential intruders, but the invaders seem to have completely stopped, leaving Buttercup bored. “Man... I’m glad you guys are safe, but I’m so bored...” She says to a random pedestrian taking refuge here.

“Well... we are safe in Dexter’s lab at the moment, maybe check up on your sisters?” – “Well... what if robots show up?” The man looks around, no robots in sight. No additional survivors either. “Once we all get into the lab, we will lock it down. Nothing can get in. We will be safe until we need to come out to get some food. Go check up on your sisters. We’re fine. Just... promise you will come back if something bad happens?”

Buttercup laughs a small bit and gets off of the chair she was sitting on. “Yeah sounds like a plan. You have a phone, right?” – “Yeah.” – “And you know our number?” – “Yup.” She nods. “Good man, I’ll check up on them. Be safe, you guys!” She says before flying back to her house.

(================================================)

Dexter follows the girl he can never quite get a good look at, as she almost dances across the ruined city. He notices the rumbles are getting stronger and stronger as they go on.

He sees something breaking the horizon. “The Megaville Power Plant...?” He asks himself, as the girl seems to disappear within its silhouette. “Is there... someone there too?” He shakes his head and rushes up there. However, as he does- he notices robots circling the area. “Just like the Wind farm... there are robots patrolling this place too... there IS something here!”

However, not just due to his proximity to the Plant, Dexter notices the Rumbling is getting much heavier...

(================================================)

Flying over the city, Bubbles finds a Mega-Mart. She flies down; noticing that it was attacked by the robots, but everything inside is still there. She breaks through the windows and begins to pick up everything she can hold. However, with armfuls and legfuls, she notices it would still take several trips to feel everyone at the house. She looks around and notices shopping carts.

“Hm...” She wonders to herself. She drops everything into a cart, then another, then another and another until she has everything in the store stuffed into about fifty carts. She wonders to herself how she is going to get this back to the house again, pondering the situation, before a stroke of brilliance hits her!

She carries all of the carts outside and begins to stack them. One by one, a tower of food begins to form itself. Somewhat evenly stacked, Bubbles takes the tower of carts by the base and begins to slowly float over the city.

“Careful, Bubbles... careful...” She mutters to herself, making extra sure not to drop anything.

(================================================)

Lynn mingles with the crowd, getting everyone’s take on the situation. They seem to have calmed down a lot for the most part, but they still feel very uneasy about being so out in the open.

Noticing something very strange in the sky, Lynn calls it out to Blossom. “What is that?” She looks up and squints, before breaking into a giant smile! “It’s Bubbles! She came back with food!” The mere mention of food has the crowd of people moving around, all eyeing Bubbles- who really doesn’t need all of this pressure right now.

She lands and places the food tower on the ground, happy to finally have it in a stable area. Bubbles and Blossom get to work distributing the food evenly and quickly. But Lynn notices something and puts her hand to the ground.

This was all foretold. The promised day has come. Even fearing the worst, everyone does what they can. Even knowing what will happen, they do what they think is right. But does it really matter? Does doing the right thing really matter if you know what you are doing will amount to nothing?

That is something even I don't know.

Last edited by Birdofterror on Tue Feb 05, 2013 3:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"It's such a fine line between clever and stupid."

The Chronometal Wars, a fan-fiction taking place in the PPGD Universe. Catastrophe is the only certainty.

The rumbling, faint but still very present makes itself known to the heroes who only a few moments ago felt nothing. “Is this what Dexter was feeling?” Blossom asks herself, also with her hand to the ground.

The people around them, eating the food they were given, begin to worry about what the heroes are doing. They can’t feel the tremors themselves, but they know the heroes can.

Filled with the need to find out what is causing this rumbling, Dexter locks himself into combat with the many robots surrounding the Megaville Power Plant. Almost as if he has gained some kind of new power, some of the larger robots which took many attacks before are now being blown away in a single shot. His Saber is proving to be a lot weaker than this weird arsenal of ‘magic’ guns he has.

Within moments, he finds himself within his own little scrap yard, pieces of robots big and small scattered across the road. He spends a little bit of time viewing himself before feeling the rumbling intensifying yet again! Without missing a beat, he heads inside the plant.

He looks around, making sure the coast is clear. The walls are melted and the doors are caved in. He walks over to the cellar, where the door labeled Authorized per- “This must be it.” Dexter says to himself, not reading the door and instead heading down to where the rumbling is coming from.

As he reaches the bottom, a truly unexpected sight makes itself known. A giant hole is in the flooring and it seems to descend into a complex of sorts. He looks around the level of the factory he is on. The circuitry is stripped from the wall and everything not bolted down is gone. This entire factory is non-functional, it’s likely the City of Megaville will lose power very soon and will have to rely solely on the Wind Farm.

Curious about where this hole in the ground goes, Dexter jumps into it and notices the rumbling intensifies infinitely down here. Almost as if one queue, several robots come crashing down the metal halls, but are made short work of by Dexter.

He runs down the halls, running toward whatever is causing the rumbling. The farther down the metal corridors the heavier the rumbling gets, until he is met with an awesome sight! Through a glass window, he finds that there is an entire factory down here! Wall to wall of high tech machinery and energy plants.

“What the hell is this...?” Dexter asks himself, before being blown away by a surge of heated energy! Dexter winces on the ground, trying to rise back up, noticing the suit is buckling.

*Heat threshold capped, get to a safe location* Blares through Dexter’s suit of armor, apparently very intolerant of heat. Dexter musters all of his strength to raise his head to meet his assailant. It’s another person in an odd suit of armor, this one reddish orange... and a lot less sleek than the other he saw, in fact it seems very bulky. It appears to be a man.

“So you’re the infamous Dexter, eh? I though you’d be more of a challenge than this.” – “Who... are... you?” Dexter grunts, still unable to move. The man smirks. “Drax, Biosymbiote F.” Dexter’s head falls to the ground, his energy completely spent. “Another one, huh...? What do you guys even want...?” – “I’m sure Elly told you. We seek to remake the world in a light, long forgotten.” – “What does that even mean...?” Dexter sighs.

“It means what you think it means! We are going to break this already broken world and repair it in the light it has for so long forgotten! But in order to do that... pesky ‘heroes’ need to piss off.” Dexter looks up again, still completely flat on the ground, his suit blaring heat warnings. The one who calls himself Drax walks over to an elevator of sorts and switches it on.

What comes down shocks Dexter! “That crystal...!” He huffs, knowing it’s the same thing. “You know this? Well, Elly did say you got the drop on her, take a good long look at it, Hero... it will be the last thing you ever see.” It is much larger than before, but it looks a lot different too. It’s the same basic kind of crystal, but none of the edges and rivets are the same, as if it were an imperfect copy.

“What is it, anyway?” Dexter says, buying time, noticing his suit is finally cooling down. “Model M, bro.” Dexter thinks to himself. Elly said the same thing, she said that all she was ordered to do was show him Model M, then she tried to kill him...

“But, that’s enough of show and tell, time for you to go bye-bye!” Drax yells as his armor forms around his fist to make a kind of battering ram! He slams it down toward Dexter, who has barely enough maneuverability to roll out of the way!

Dexter jumps out of the way of his attacks, but his armor is still locking up and he cannot go on the offensive! Considering his options, he begins to run away! “Oh no you don’t!” Drax yells as he activates a command to the factory! Bulkheads shut and lock into place, forcing Dexter into a corner as Drax walks down toward him, his suit of orange armor glowing.

“End of the line, Model D.” – “What the hell is Model D?! What the hell is Model M?! Who are you people?!” Dexter yells out, hysterical. “Wait, you don’t even know what your Model D is? Are you ‘that’ stupid?” – “What did you say...?!” Drax rushes forward and slams Dexter’s armored arms against the wall as he eyes him, now face to face, Drax's red dreadlocks spilling over his sunglasses.

“You chase down and break the carbon copy of your sister that you made, she turns into armor, you wear it and if I’m not mistaken, you are hearing a voice- right? A ‘girly’ voice? Ringing a bell, dumbass?!” – “W-Wait... what are you trying to say?” – “I thought YOU were the smart one! You are going to make ME spell it out for you?!”

‘Dexter, you have to run; he is going to kill you! RUN!’

“HYA!” Dexter yells as his armor finally unlocks, bashing his grip away! Dexter turns around and blows a hole in the bulkhead and begins to run. “Running away from your problems again, Dexter...?” Dexter stops in his tracks.

‘Don’t fall for his tricks! RUN!’

“You gonna run back and have your ‘girlfriend’ do all the work for you again? Go ahead, but by the time you even reach your house- my work here will be done.” Dexter clenches his fists, almost disappointed in himself that he just fell for this taunt. He fires backwards and brandishes his new saber! He locks into an attack with Drax, as he too summons an energy blade from seemingly nowhere.

“Too slow!” Drax yells as he punches Dexter in the stomach, causing him to cough up blood and loosen his grip on his blade. In this small moment, Drax begins to arm his fire weapon to lock Dexter into place again!

‘D-Dexter! The wind! Use the wind!’ – “The... what...?” – ‘Don’t ask, just do it!’

Not even sure of himself, Dexter tries to instinctually tap into whatever wind she is talking about. “GOODBYE, HERO!” He yells as he fires at Dexter from point-blank range, causing him to fly into and then through the wall. “Ha... pathetic.” Drax says to himself and begins to walk away from the molten slag he left behind.

“THUNDER LANCE!” – “What the fu-“ He tries to say as a giant blade of lightning and wind engulfs his being, sending him crashing back into the crystal, shattering it into many pieces! Dexter walks out of the rubble, with what looks like a tornado surrounding him. “Wind...” He says to himself, remembering Elly.

Drax rubs his head and looks up to Dexter, who is looking down on him and his shattered crystal. The factory around them begins to malfunction and conduits explode.

“Hah... by breaking the crystal, you severed this factory’s power... not bad, but this isn’t over...” Drax says as he instantly teleports away, taking many fragments of the crystal with him. The factory around him heaves and explodes, but all he can think about is the voice.

What kind of blade did Drax have? Because I know he had some kind of weapon when he fought Mandark, I just don't remember what it was. At the risk of sounding stupid, I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say that's not the same Drax from After Birth.

Also, Michael is with the knights, right? I know Olga was, but I couldn't remember if he was. If Michael is with them, will he and Olga play an important part in this combat wise?

I never put any real detail into it, so it's just a vague interpretation of 'energy sword.' I would imagine it looks a lot like a light-saber, but a lot less smooth. Like instead of being a focused beam of energy, it's very unfocused, electricity flying out. Dexter's is like that too. The color of the sword is always the main color of the person using it, Drax's being orange, Dexter's being white gold and so on.

Havoc751 wrote:Because I know he had some kind of weapon when he fought Mandark, I just don't remember what it was.

...? I... don't recall ever making Drax fight Mandark... Could you quote where that happened? Maybe I just forgot over the years.

Havoc751 wrote:At the risk of sounding stupid, I'm just gonna go out on a limb and say that's not the same Drax from After Birth.

Your limb would be correct. From what I heard AB isn't even canon to its own story, so I had no intention of plagiarizing it for mine.

That and I never even read it anyway...

Havoc751 wrote:Also, Michael is with the knights, right? I know Olga was, but I couldn't remember if he was.

Yes sir, yes he was/is. As a very... important place in it. He may or may not have founded them.

Havoc751 wrote:If Michael is with them, will he and Olga play an important part in this combat wise?

VERY Important.

Thank you for reading and your questions, though that one up there strikes me as odd. If you can get back to me on that, that would be fantastic.

"It's such a fine line between clever and stupid."

The Chronometal Wars, a fan-fiction taking place in the PPGD Universe. Catastrophe is the only certainty.

The Chronometal Wars-THE FIRST WAR- Chapter 3: Shadows of the PastPart 1: Escape from the Hell

With no time to waste on idle thought, Dexter picks up some of the scattered crystal shards and runs out of the exploding factory. Dodging, bobbing and weaving through intense explosions, making sure not to be caught in their high temperature blasts; he faintly makes out the exit among the smoke.

The explosions shake the ground above and the factory ceiling caves in, showing light above, albeit from over fifty feet up. The entrance caves in and Dexter looks up one of the gashes in the top of the factory. With no time to waste, he jumps up one of the holes; however he is intercepted by a rogue flame pillar!

‘Dexter! Use the fire!’ The voice from before yells at Dexter once more. As he is jumping up he yells out as if from instinct- “Magma Shield!” His entire being is engulfed in a controlled firestorm and he jumps out of the burning factory through the fire wave as the entire surrounding area begins to cave into the underworld below, explosions so loud and powerful they are breaking the glass of buildings over a mile away.

(================================================)

The shaking envelopes the entire greater Megaville area, the people at the Powerpuff Residence now able to easily feel it, as if a bomb has gone off! Blossom looks to the east, but is unable to abandon these people in an attempt to help Dexter. She merely stands there... hoping for the best.

(================================================)

Dexter carefully yet quickly jumps and runs across the collapsing landscape, making sure not to fall into the conflagration of molten steel below. “Crap, this is bad...!” He says to himself as the entire area around him crumbles, leaving him with no-where to run. He stands on a lonely island of ‘stable’ material pondering his next move as even this area begins to crumble.

“DEXTER! HOLD ON!” A tomboy voice is heard from afar! Dexter looks behind himself, seeing none other than Buttercup in hot pursuit of Dexter’s position! The ground beneath him gives way, so in his last attempt to survive- he jumps as high as he possibly can. He looks below himself, his augmented vision giving him a perfect view of the hell below him. “Crap Crap CRAP CRAP!” He yells to himself as he begins to fall!

“GOTCHA!” Buttercup yells as she snags Dexter at the last second, both of them feeling the heat below. She strains to hold up the incredibly dense Dexter, but she makes it to safety without a wince. She drops him on the pavement and lands next to him, both of them panting. Dexter falls to a sitting position, catching his breath.

“Th-Thanks... Buttercup...” He wheezes. He holds his hand to his chest, barely believing he is still alive.

“How... How did you even find me? Aren’t you supposed to be guarding the School?” – “It got filled up and locked down so I headed to the house... Lucky, huh?” – “Y-Yeah... lucky... right...” He says, still shaking. “Buck up!” Buttercup says, smacking his back into position. “We still have work to do. This is only the beginning.” She says looking into the smoldering ruin below the roads of Megaville.

“Right... right... let’s go.”

(================================================)

Night has fully dropped over the city of Megaville. Dexter has been fighting for hours. The people around the Powerpuff residence have tents, mats and cots set up around the building and a lot are resting inside the house as well. The girls spend more of their restless night keeping watch. Nothing more than a couple stray robots have invaded. Off to the side is the giant Megas, whose pilot is inside the house.

“Man, I must have taken out like twenty of those worms, man.” Coop says, but this time without a mouth full of food. “I take it they didn’t put up much trouble?” Utonium responds. “Nah, man... I’m sure your girls and Big Man had trouble taking em’ out, but Megas is built to destroy giant robots!” – “Hah! Glad to hear that.”

Utonium rises from his chair and heads down the stairs. “Where ya goin’ man?” – “I still have some research to do on this crystal Dexter brought back.” – “Ah, sciency stuff. Well, see ya later...” They nod to each other and go their separate ways. Coop, now left alone hears his stomach growl, but decides against getting food.

‘These people are helpless and scared... the food is scarce, I can’t take it from them. It’s not right.’ He nobly thinks to himself as he lies down on a mat in the house.

Dexter and Buttercup make it to the house and their arrival stirs the attention of Bubbles and Blossom.

“Oh you’re back! Did you find her?” Blossom asks Dexter. “Her...? OH! The girl... uh... y-yes?” – “Y-Yes? Did you find her or not?” – “I... don’t really know yet. I’ll find out later, but for now I need to show Utonium something. Please excuse me.” He says, bypassing Blossom and the tents.

Now in a lonely sisterly group of three, they all talk amongst each other.

“Well, this night has been crazy, but I think we finally have everything under control.” The leader, Blossom says looking over the house and the people sleeping under their protection. “The food is almost gone again... we will need to get more tomorrow.” She sighs.

“Well... hopefully the government can help us out with that...” Bubbles lets out. “I hope so.” Blossom responds. They both look over to Buttercup, who is looking over the city, several parts in smoldering ruin. “Buttercup...?” Bubbles asks.

“Oh- uh, yeah?” She says, finally being snapped out of it. “Are you alright?” – “Yeah! Yeah... I’m, uh... going to check up on the school.” She says before flying off. “I guess it’s back to patrol duty for us, huh?” – “Yeah... yeah...” They fly back into the air and establish another recon. It’s going to be a long... LONG night. Not only that, this night seems especially dark, like some of the stars aren’t peaking through the sky tonight.

(================================================)

Utonium enters the crystals into the scanner like before as Dexter views- in awe, the crystal from before. “How did it get this big? This is... crazy! What matter is it drawing from to increase in mass?” – “I don’t know. Everything around here is in perfect condition; it hasn’t been absorbing the air either. It just seems to be growing from... nothing...”

“You and I both know that’s impossible.” Dexter says as the new crystals are being scanned. “Impossible is just a word we use until we find out ‘what and why.’ You know that, Dexter.” He says as he observes the crystals in a slightly different way from before. Dexter looks on, curious. The Professor is using a high power scope to view the crystal from a microscopic level.

A dark haze seems to surround it, coalescing into crystal formations. “Where is that smoke coming from?” – “I don’t know. It seems to come from inside the crystal itself.” Dexter picks up the larger crystal hunk and heads up the stairs. “Keep me posted.”

(================================================)

Blossom lowers from the sky to talk to Dexter, who’s holding that odd rock again. “Back with the... whatever?” – “Yeah, Utonium and I can’t seem to figure out why it’s growing.”

A little girl, who can’t sleep listens on, curious...

“Well, do you have any ideas?” Blossom asks. “Only a few, but they were all disproved. I thought it ate the air or the matter around it to grow in size, but it seems to just be growing on its own.” – “Do you have any idea what it does?” – “Well, those... ‘Bio-whatchamacallits’ were definitely using this for evil.”

“Evil...?!” The little girl in the tent thinks to herself.

“Yeah, they were using this as a power source... and unless I was mistaken it was also used to create that freak storm at the wind farm. This thing is dangerous.”

The little girl is hyperventilating, seemingly terrified at the prospect of an evil crystal as close to her as ever. This giant event unfolding before her innocent eyes begin to break her composure.

“What the...?” Dexter says to himself as the crystal grows black and begins to emit smoke.

In the black of night, even more black than usual now that they think about it... the Crystal in Dexter’s hand begins to swirl in a dark aura as vapor coalesces to form larger layers on its crust.

“What’s going on, why’s it growing, Dexter?!” – “I have no idea...!” Dexter runs quickly back into the house and down the stairs into the lab.

“Utonium! Quick, analyze this, now!” Without so much as a question, he slaps it in the machine and begins to analyze it as fast as he can. “Dexter, look at this!” Utonium says, pointing to the monitor. The small black haze around the crystal has grown to a full blown cloud around the entirety of the crystal!

“It’s growing at an exponential rate! Do you know why?” – “No, Blossom and I were just talking outside and it just... exploded into this!” Utonium looks back to the monitor, noticing his Microscope is blocked off. “What the?” He asks himself as he opens the scanning machine. “Holy...! Dexter, look at this!” He says, beckoning Dexter over to look inside the device.

What he sees startles him, to say the least.

It is at least five times the size it was just a few moments ago! He tries to take it out of the machine, but the hole to put the samples in is only half the size of the crystal itself now.

“Well... that’s not going anywhere...” – “What made it do this, Dexter? What EXACTLY were you doing before this happened?” – “Like I said, Blossom and I were talking about the crystal outside... and it just started doing this all of a sudden. I’m not sure why it exploded in size ‘THIS’ much, though.” Utonium sits back down and scratches his chin.

Dexter can hear a ruckus outside and walks up the stairs. “Keep me posted.”

(================================================)

Bubbles and Lynn are outside the house in a secluded area.

“I don’t know, Bubbles... if they are just going to die anyway, I don’t see the point...” – “But you could feel that emotion when you helped those people... It isn’t hopeless! We have to try!” Lynn looks down, not sure what to think.

“I’ll help these people... but it’s out of sheer pity... not because I think it will do any good...” She says as she walks away, leaving Bubbles behind.

As she heads back to the front yard, what she sees surprises her. Everyone is awake and yelling! Lynn runs over to the group to make sure everyone’s okay. “What’s going on?” She asks a random person. “The Powerpuff Girls are holding some kind of evil machine inside that house! We want it gone! We want it far away!” Lynn looks over to the porch, with Dexter and Blossom on it.

“People, please!” Blossom yells out. “We don’t know WHAT it is yet- and it’s only an item! It’s not evil!” The people aren’t buying it and continue to rabble... Dexter doesn’t contribute to the conversation. Something else catches his eye... or rather, nothing catches his eye.

“Hey, Blossom... does it seem a little dark to you?” Taking a break from her speech, she looks around. There are no stars in the sky... and there seems to be a thick fog enveloping the roads. Dexter sees something else that catches his eye. A girl far away is beckoning him... again...

“Blossom... I got to go find that girl again.” He takes off without awaiting a response, leaving Blossom to the growing riot.

(================================================)

“Deedee... is that you? Please tell me...” He says under his breath as he runs down the blind city. He follows the girl down the dark twists and turns, completely unable to see on his own... it’s as if the entire city is within an abyss of pure darkness. The only light being from who he is chasing...

When he makes the next turn, he can no longer see who he thinks is Deedee. He looks around, before feeling the slightest shred of fear.

“Deedee? Where are you?” He says, looking around, but every direction is the same abysmal darkness. He can’t even make out his own hands. “Wait...” He says to himself.

“F-Fire shield!” He yells as his being is engulfed and it lights up the entire area. What he sees shocks him! A blonde girl in a pink dress standing right in front of him.

“Dee-“ He tries to say before she walks through the inferno and hugs him... he tries to return the action, but his arms go through her.

“Dexter... it is me... but... we have to cut this reunion short.” After she says this and looks at Dexter, she is surprised that she isn’t looking down at him. “You’ve grown, brother... both in height... and as a person.”

Before Dexter even has a chance to ask her any questions, she points to a dimly lit forest. “You must go there. Another Biosymbiote waits there for you.” – “Wait! Why are you here?” She turns back halfway, eyeing the ground with sorrowful eyes.

“I’m here to stop Mandark...” She says enigmatically as she fades from vision once more. Dexter hysterically looks around himself and tries to talk to her- “Mandark?! Mandark is back too?! Where, when... wh-why?! WHY?!” He gets no response...

Still somewhat recovering from shock, Dexter looks over to the forest just outside Megaville. It is darker than usual as well... but his fire shield makes it easy to see.

He walks into the brush, being careful not to light anything on fire... this is public property after all. As he goes through the woods, he notices his fire is casting less and less light... as if he’s approaching some pseudo-reality where only darkness can cast shadows.

He comes to a kind of clearing... and what he sees would surprise him if he wasn’t already expecting it.

A giant crystal... glowing a faint gray amidst all the pure black. It is also swirling with the dark energy as the other crystal at the house was. He walks up to the crystal and puts his hand on it, keeping his guard up at all times. Wherever this Biosymbiote is... he must have the pure darkness to his advantage.

“So you’ve come... Dexter...!” A young feminine voice draws out. I guess it was a little girl after all, not a man. But, something scratches the back of Dexter’s mind. As if... the voice was familiar.

“Show yourself and I won’t cleave your crystal in half.” – “Don’t tell me you think YOU’RE in a position to bargain with ME!” It’s official. That voice is definitely familiar... but he can’t put his finger on it.

“Fine, I warned you.” He says as he turns around, bluffing. He draws his sword and wonders why she hasn’t stopped him yet. “HYA!” He yells bearing down on the crystal... but his blade cannonballs off of it. “What the...?” – “It’s too big to just be... broken, Dexter...”

“Who are you?!” A small amount of the darkness fades and it leaves one area illuminated by starlight. The being steps into it. Her slender physique contoured to the purple armor. Her face is completely covered by a helmet. She isn’t short... but she certainly isn’t tall either.

She reaches for her helmet and takes it off.

“WHAT...?! Y-You..!” Dexter stutters. Her face is one from his past. Silky black hair held in two pig tails. The only thing throwing him off is the huge scar going down the right side of her face.

The world around him moved on without his consent. Before he knew it, friends were enemies... mutual understandings turned to betrayal. What could be worse than being turned against one called "Friend?"

(Whoop Whoop 10K! Thanks, all!)

"It's such a fine line between clever and stupid."

The Chronometal Wars, a fan-fiction taking place in the PPGD Universe. Catastrophe is the only certainty.

For every second you live, so do your friends and enemies. They live, they laugh, they plot, they love, they scheme... If you disconnect yourself from their life, you might not be able to recognize them when you meet again.

Her face shows one of many puzzling emotions. The scar shows a life of experience... one Dexter cannot even fathom. She holds her helmet in one hand while keeping her eyes fixated on Dexter.

“It’s been a while, huh?” – “What are you doing here?! Are you with these people?” – “Not even a how-do-you-do, Dexter? I thought we were friends.” Dexter’s face scrunches up and he darts his eyes around. This ‘has’ to be a trap. Olga wouldn’t be here as a Biosymbiote if she wasn’t an enemy. Everything around him is pure darkness; there is no escape... only Olga and whatever Model M is.

“So... I heard that Mandark’s back...” Dexter says in a strange attempt to break the ice. Olga looks surprised, but puts the helmet back on... apparently not amused. The dark purple helmet with matching visor clicks into place and Olga almost instantly seems like a different person.

“Not yet. Almost, but not yet. He will be back soon; and what you are doing is in offense to that.” – “Yeah, well forgive me for not wanting him back that much. How do you even bring the dead back anyway?”

Olga lets off a small chuckle and merely drops her head down a little bit. “We already brought someone else back to life... don’t you realize it yet? Have you met her?” Dexter thinks for a moment and remembers just a few moments ago... but... was she really alive?

“If you are talking about Deedee, I wouldn’t really call that ‘alive’...” – “Isn’t it though? Are we not all just consciousnesses within shells? How is your Chronometal any different from a mortal body?” Olga riddles. “There’s more to life than simply ‘being’...” – “Oh, but she isn’t simply ‘being,’ Dexter. She’s talked to you, helped you and even brought you all the way here. To be honest, I didn’t think you would survive Elly’s attack, let alone Drax’s... only to end up here.”

She steps back a few inches and completely disappears into the darkness. Dexter feels really bad all of a sudden, like she’s not going to be all ‘buddy buddy’ with him anymore.

“You are merely a stepping stone, Dexter! Your life has no meaning to me anymore!” She yells as the darkness fluctuates and Dexter finds himself within some kind of Bizarro dimension.

The ground gives way and seems to spill into nothingness. A blade from the darkness flies to Dexter who barely has enough time to react and dodge! The quick dodge has him stumble down a pit, but his training with his armor allows him to jump off the chasm’s walls and out of the abyss!

However, as soon as he lands Olga rushes out of the darkness, brandishing two purple blades! Dexter dodges them before jumping back and drawing his own weapon, but by that time she’s already gone again. Noises are heard from all directions and Dexter instinctively roars “FLAME SHIELD!” A firestorm rages around him and the small throwing blades are blasted upon contact!

The fire from the shield casts a faint light within this darkest of realms, allowing him to gain some real footing. He sees a shadow originating from behind him and he cleaves in a circle, only to have Olga duck and kick him in the stomach! As he recoils she draws her weapons and attempts to skewer Dexter! But he has had too much training before this moment to simply let that happen!

“Shock Trap!” he yells as she in engulfed in a static storm! He must have dropped something at his feet before she attacked. Dexter is better at this than he thought. But the Olga in the static trap seems to be rather solid. When he takes a better look at her, the armor explodes blasting him backwards! It was a fake...!

As he is on the ground, she falls from the sky and attempts to impale him with a sword in each hand! He draws his saber and blocks both stabs with them, having her land on top of him, both trying to overpower the other! The blades spark and electrify as the power gradually shifts to Dexter’s end! He regains his footing and begins to push Olga back!

“Hah... fine, I guess if I can’t... hah... overpower you... I can out-skill you!” Olga says, panting from the tug of war. Dexter tries to slash her to have her dodge and cut at his arm! It does no real damage other than causing Dexter pain! He pulls out his D-Pistol and fires to have her almost ‘dance’ around it and slash the gun away!

She jumps into the darkness only to instantly appear behind Dexter! As he tries to engage her in hand to hand combat she nimbly dodges it and retaliates! She takes out her swords and uses them as if they were batons, almost dancing around him!

Dexter tries his best to avoid the attacks and even counter attack, but everything is met with greater skill on her part! She cartwheels into a giant slash against Dexter, blasting his armor off and sending him flying backwards! “Th-This is crazy...!” He says under his breath, being beaten senseless by a dancer.

“What’s wrong? Getting tired?” Olga purrs as she almost seductively walks toward him in his defenseless state. She juggles the weapons in her hands, as blades seem to fly at Dexter from all directions! However, as Dexter is dodging them, more nimbly that he intended mind you, he begins to realize... everything he is doing right now is off instinct.

Olga views his odd movements completely silently, as if behind the helmet she were mouth agape!

Dexter is dancing! Not just like anyone, like Deedee!

‘Dexter, you can’t let her win! You have to beat her at her own game! Just do what feels natural! I trust you...’

Without even calling attention to it, Dexter pulls out his sword and begins to engage Olga in a dance of death! One false move could mean the end for Dexter, but he has to keep a level head! They move in rhythm with each other’s attacks and they dodge each other perfectly, as if it were a brilliant theatrical performance.

The darkness around them seems to ebb as Olga focuses on the combat more than ever! Before long, they are in the star lit forest, the darkness almost completely faded! They seem evenly matched for what seems like hours, always an inch from each other’s lives, before something knocks one of them off guard.

‘Olga, stop! Please!’ Deedee yells through his armor, causing her to falter and Dexter to smack her to the dirt, knocking her helmet off and her weapons out of her hands! Dexter rushes for her and pins her to the ground with his own two hands, meeting her face to face. She looks up with rage in her eyes.

“That was a dirty trick!” She yells. “I didn’t do it, Deedee did! Stop this, Olga!” He pleads, completely overpowering her. “Stop what? You don’t even know what we’re doing!” – “YOU’RE DESTROYING THE CITY AND BRINGING YOUR PSYCHOPATH BROTHER BACK TO LIFE!” He yells at her face! She musters the strength to kick him off her and she rolls back to her feet and equips her helmet.

Finally back in some semblance of control, Olga sighs and backs away, the crystal near them beginning to vanish.

“You are stronger than I thought; Dexter... who would have thought Deedee could teach you to ‘fight’ like that? Just remember what I said, though... your life has no meaning... to us, to this world... you are MERELY a stepping stone, nothing more.” She says as she vanishes into thin air, along with the crystal.

Dexter falls to his knees, the pain of the battle finally catching up. He is sore all over and his entire body is cut up bad.

“Why is the happening, Deedee? Please, tell me...”

‘They want to bring him back... but that is merely one stage of their plan; a means to an end! They want to control the entire world; Dexter. You have to stop them!’

If he thinks it's bad now, he's in for quite a shock... he is not even safe from himself. The world is just a giant compromise. Everyone turns on him at one point. With no allies, why does he continue to fight? Who is... he? Dexter? Mandark? Micheal? Otto? These wars will break any man, no matter how grizzled. Not even the dead know peace from this hell.

"It's such a fine line between clever and stupid."

The Chronometal Wars, a fan-fiction taking place in the PPGD Universe. Catastrophe is the only certainty.

Hah, you posted just as I signed in. That's the second time you did that two nights in a row. It seems we are in sync.

Yeah, as soon as you suggested the whole event, it just seemed to come naturally. It was seamless, really. And don't worry about the PMs. I know that you only really PM me with relevant information, so I can wait a while in between.

But, about the part... do you think the dancing could have gone on for a little longer? I wanted it to go for a little longer, but I ran out of my pre-determined space for this segment of the story. Was it good? I think it could have been better.

"It's such a fine line between clever and stupid."

The Chronometal Wars, a fan-fiction taking place in the PPGD Universe. Catastrophe is the only certainty.

Birdofterror wrote:But, about the part... do you think the dancing could have gone on for a little longer? I wanted it to go for a little longer, but I ran out of my pre-determined space for this segment of the story. Was it good? I think it could have been better.

Well...I guess, it seemed okay to me. But yeah, longer could be better.I'm not sure what you mean by "pre-determined space" though.

Havoc751 wrote:I'm not sure what you mean by "pre-determined space" though.

Oh, it's not much. I always have my parts be no shorter than 3 pages of text, and not longer than 4 pages. That's why if you are to scroll up or down the thread, you would notice that all the parts are "roughly" the same size.

"Pages," being hard to see on internet forums, due to actual pages just being 25 posts long, and have nothing to do with text length is actually based on Microsoft Word, the program I use to write with. It's the default size of pages with size 10 text, if they were to be printed out: Each of my parts would be 3-4 pages long.

I was saying I was going to make it a 'little' longer, but I was nearing the end of the fourth page, so I had to cut back on the end of the battle. If it turned out good, it turned out good... but I couldn't help but think that it couldn't have been a mite bit better.

"It's such a fine line between clever and stupid."

The Chronometal Wars, a fan-fiction taking place in the PPGD Universe. Catastrophe is the only certainty.

The Chronometal Wars-THE FIRST WAR- Chapter 4: The Cold TruthPart 1: It was all Fun and Games

As he grasps himself and his armor in an attempt to dull the pain, he feels something hit the back of his neck. He swabs back there with his finger and it comes back wet.

“Water...?” He asks himself as he feels it again and again. He breathes a sigh of relief. He stands up and looks into the sky. It is raining. Standing in the middle of Megaville National Park, he looks around himself. The birds are chirping and waking up. The sun finally beginning to rise again.

“Olga... she’s with them... Mandark’s coming back too...” He sighs and closes his eyes as the rain hits his face and washes out his wounds. The rain really picks up. It’s brisk...

(================================================)

The people in the tents more or less stay in them. The rain is rather cold and a lot of them are still frightened from last night.

“What has Dexter been doing all this time...?” Blossom asks herself with barely open eyes. She hasn’t gotten a wink of sleep. She yawns and continues to talk to herself. “Chasing after that... ‘girl’ again, no doubt...” She rubs her eyes and lowers to the ground. The rain seems to have put out the flames in Megaville City. From far away, you can hardly tell it’s completely destroyed...

Buttercup finds herself back at the school, the large doors closed to prevent anything from breaking in. She too rubs her eyes and shakes her head- getting the rain out of it. A cold mist rolls into the school from the outside. It’s soothing, but just a ‘tad’ too cold for her tastes.

She knocks on the blast door.

“Hey, open up.”

“... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...”

“Hey, open up! Can you hear me?”

She groans and activates the manual override. “Dang... what was it? 8-7-4-4? No, uh... 7-2... 5-8! Got it.” The door opens, but falls off its hinges as soon as it does so.

“W-What the hell?!” She yells as she flies into the lab. What she sees... or rather- DOESN’T see shocks her. “Where the hell is the lab?! Where are the people?!”

Everything around her looks like it was carved out of the ground. She notices a couple marks in the open earth and comes to a chilling realization.

“W-Worms...!”

(================================================)

The rain is a lot colder now. The sun is peaking out through the clouds and the mist. It’s really something else, especially when it’s a sunrise over a once burning metropolis.

Dexter walks down the crushed roads to the Powerpuff Girls’ house. He doesn’t run... he doesn’t skate... he walks, as if the destination isn’t as important as his own thoughts. He thinks about the last time he saw Olga.

It was the Gathering of Heroes all those years ago. They shared quite a moment, but parted ways after it was all over. They left the past where it was... and until now, Dexter thought the regrets and grudges from both sides were dead and buried. But... guess not.

They never kept in contact... it seems like Olga lived an entirely alien life these few short years. Her demeanor... her voice... her FACE, what was that scar?

Dexter shivers, the cold rain water washing over his wounds. It burns a small bit, but he doesn’t know why, it should feel soothing. It’s as if the cuts on his skin were made by a cat.

He continues walking down the broken roads, looking at all the shattered machines and broken lights of the city. He tried to keep the power going, but it seems like it faded a long time ago. The rain gets even colder and begins to burn more. Dexter winces as he continues his trek...

(================================================)

Blossom sits on the porch, somewhat protected from the rain as the sun casts a very soothing shine over the area. She dazes in and out of sleep, before she feels like she is being rocked... like in a cradle. Such a soothing feeling... a rhythmic comfort...

Her eyes feel heavy and she drifts off for a short moment, the shaking getting a little more intense. She smiles at the dream she has, her body propped up against the door, the soothing noises of the rain lulling her to sleep.

Everyone from inside the house is outside, enjoying the calming rain, as if the woes of yesterday were almost gone...

But the dream isn’t as pleasant as she begins to hear screams! The rhythm of the rocking escalates into an earthquake! She shakes her head and wakes up to a horrifying sight!

“Ahhh!” – “HELP US!” – “WHAT IS THIS THING?!” – “NOOO!” People say one by one as a giant worm engulfs them, taking the entire pavement and yard with them! “Oh God no!” She yells as she tries to combat the worm, but it slinks away back into the underworld...

Everyone is gone... in an instant, every civilian they have been protecting is gone. Buttercup flies into the area and lands next to Blossom.

“No, not here too...!” She blubbers. “T-Too? Don’t... don’t tell me...” – “Y-Yeah... the school... the people... gone...” Blossom’s face goes white as she slumps to the ground as the torrent of ice cold water rains down on them. Buttercup looks around; noticing Bubbles and Lynn are standing in the doorway... speechless.

Buttercup sits on the porch, not even sure how to react to this situation. She slams her fist down in rage; “WHERE THE HELL IS THE MILITARY?! WHY ARE WE BEING FORCED TO DO THIS OURSELVES?! God damn it...” She moans as she buries her head into her hands.

(================================================)

Dexter nears the house and notices... the entire yard has been scraped clean! He begins to lumber to it, before he stopped by a voice behind him.

“So, you’re the infamous Model D. I’ve seen you from afar, but never really got to meet the man himself.” A serious voice lets out. Dexter turns around, still tending to his wounds, in no state to fight.

It seems to be another Biosymbiote. This one blue... it seems to be aqua dynamic. “Who are you...?” He boorishly asks.

“Don’t be dumb, Dexter. It’s the armor. The armor is talking- just like yours.” – “Armor? Your armor has someone in it too?” – “Indeed. Her name is Leviathan. She is from a world- a future much different from ours.”

The armor begins to speak again- as it does, his armor lights up slightly, shining a light blue.

“I’ve got to say, the way you stopped Phantom, Harpuia AND Fefnir... I’m impressed, boy. Maybe you have what it takes to make this fun after all!”

The sky... man has looked at it for thousands of years. It inspired curiosity... adventure... hope... What if the sky were the enemy? What if it no longer brought those things? What if it only brought fear?

“Fun? FUN?! Is that what this is to you?!” Dexter yells at the armor, the rain coming down in full force, blanketing the roads in mist. The man known as Micheal looks up into the air, the rain bouncing off of him.

“I assure you; Dexter... our intentions aren’t simply for ‘Mindless Fun.’ We are going to fix this world. Starting with the city of heroes... Megaville!” – “What are you talking about? You broke the city to bits and killed the people in it!” – “Killed...?” Micheal asks, bringing his head back down to meet Dexter’s eyes.

“I’ve killed no-one.” – “What ARE you talking about?! Everyone is gone! You destroyed the entire city! Where are the survivors that were outside their house?!” – “Why, they are in my base as we speak.” After he says this, Dexter’s ears un-focus and can hear only the rain hitting the ground.

It’s deafening. Why is there so much rain? Micheal looks back up, seeming to forget that Dexter is even there. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” He asks, causing Dexter to look up as well.

“It’s... it’s just rain...” – “No...” He says as he moves his arms to his sides, causing the clouds to part. Yet it continues to rain and soon, Dexter can see why!

“W-WHAT THE?!” Dexter gawks as he sees the truth behind the mist... A giant torrential whirl above the clouds! It’s as if it were a giant whirlpool in the sky! Water falls from it ever increasingly as it whirls and spins around the entire city’s sky!

“What is this...?! Are you doing this?!” Dexter yells, drawing his D-Saber. Micheal looks down, his arms still splaying apart from his sides as if he were some kind of holy man.

“It is water...” He says as it continues to rain...

“It is steam...” He says as a mist picks up and the rain begins to feel warm...

“It is ice...” He says as the water begins to chill Dexter to his bones...

Before long, it begins to snow...

(================================================)

“What is up with this weather?” Buttercup lets out, still clueless as what to do. She shakes the snow out of her hair and looks up and nearly spits all over herself over what she sees! “GUYS, LOOK UP!”

As she says that, Blossom, Bubbles and Lynn all look up and wear the same expression...

It looks like a tornado of ice bergs in the sky! What sorcery could be causing this?! Blossom looks around, dumbfounded before she sees Dexter across the way.

“Hey, it’s Dexter.” She says, calling attention to him. They can barely see him through the blizzard, but it’s definitely him. “He looks like he’s with someone...”

(================================================)

“How can you do this?” – “All the Biosymbiotes can do massive undertakings such as this. Elly could cause hurricanes and tornados... Drax could cause Earthquakes and Volcanoes and Astro could summon an absolute darkness... My power is no different.”

He looks down and maliciously looks Dexter dead in the eyes as he draws a Beam-Scythe! Dexter flinches, knowing he’s no match for him in his weakened state... “This is bad, Deedee... I don’t think I can take him...” – ‘It’s okay, Dexter! You have friends!’

After she says that Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup land by his side, at first they seem inquisitive, but then they retain battle formations, as Dexter seems to be at odds with this man.

“Dexter, who is this?!” Blossom asks. “His name is Micheal; he’s one of the people behind this whole thing!” – “Wh-What?!” Buttercup sputters! They begin to encircle him, before he merely laughs as the snow lets up... the giant whirl in the sky slowing down.

The wind seems to pick up... the place gets darker and hotter all of a sudden!

From the shadows, a Purple armored girl appears...

From the flames, a Red armored man appears...

From the sky, a Green armored woman appears...

They encircle the group, causing them to bunch up. Four on Four...

“Who are you people?” Bubbles asks. “We are the last hope for this world... we are the Knights!” Micheal preaches- his arm firmly on his Beam-Scythe. Drax draws his Beam Saber, Elly takes out her thunder lance and Astro whirls her two weapons at her side.

They all take off at once and engage Dexter and the Powerpuff girls in battle! Dexter barely managing to stand, let alone fight manages to lock blades with Micheal!

“Simmer down!” Buttercup yells as she head butts Drax and sends him flying back into a puddle left by the rains. He rises from the muck and rubs his face. “You’re tough... I’ll enjoy breaking you!” – “Shaddap!” She yells as she charges him down again!

The green woman engages Bubbles, as they seem to flutter around in the air, constantly dodging each other’s attacks! “THUNDER LANCE!” She yells out as she throws her weapon at Bubbles, who screams at it, causing a sonic boom and blowing both it and Elly away! She lands on her feet and lunges back up at Bubbles before getting locked into a struggle, her head crashing into hers!

Blossom fights the purple one, Astro! At first, hand to hand combat seems to almost falter before she notices something and back away... She knows the actions of the Knight she is fighting... the dancing, the subtle movements and the strange demeanor. She eyes the purple visor and says nothing. They engage in combat once more, but this time Blossom counters every one of her attacks, as if she knows exactly what she’s going to do!

Dexter bats the scythe away and chases Micheal down, having every one of his attacks overpowered by the scythe! His blade is knocked away and Micheal attempts to land a killer blow, before Dexter summons his D-Pistol and blows him away! “FIRE BLAST!” He yells at the top of his lungs, sending Micheal barreling back in an inferno!

Drax and Buttercup initiated in a power struggle, Buttercup manages to get the upper hand and slips a hand under him! “HAH!” She yells as she tosses him into the air and slams him down as hard as she can, causing a small quake!

Bubbles continues the forward collision against Elly, but then she gets an idea... “YAHHHHHHH!” She screams out as loud as she can right in her face, slamming her into the concrete... ears ringing.

Blossom out-skills and disarms Astro and slams her against the ground as well. Everyone backs away from their respective enemies as they simply rise to their feet again. Seemingly undamaged, Micheal is even smiling while he brushes away the char.

“Interesting. It seems you are all ALMOST as strong as I thought...” He says with a smug face, getting the last of the soot off his armor. He snaps his fingers and in an instant, everyone is gone in a green flash.

They all look around... apparently they ARE gone... Dexter looks back into the sky as the clouds return and it begins to rain again...

A simple scrap... that's all it was. If you wish to fight for what you believe in, you have to fight like it could be your last day alive. There is never a battle that isn't worth your all. You have to give it everything you have... if not, you could end up regretting it.

"It's such a fine line between clever and stupid."

The Chronometal Wars, a fan-fiction taking place in the PPGD Universe. Catastrophe is the only certainty.

Hidden in plain sight... your biggest enemy could be disguising itself as your greatest ally. The minute you fail to realize the possibilities of all things is the moment they take to strike. Never let your guard down.

The Chronometal Wars-THE FIRST WAR- Chapter 4: The Cold TruthPart 3: The Kingdom in the Sky

Even through the clouds, Dexter knows the torrential whirl is above them. What does Micheal intend to do with it? Dexter turns around and addresses the Powerpuff Girls, rain still bombarding the area.

“We need to find out where they are storing the people of Megaville.” – “Wait... they aren’t dead?” Buttercup asks, her heart starting to feel less weak from the loss of everyone she swore to protect.

“No... Assuming Micheal told the truth. He’s holding everyone at their base. We need to find where that is.” Bubbles nods and flies back to the house. “I’ll go into the caves left by the worms. Maybe they will lead to it!” She disappears into the cave.

Blossom, Buttercup and Dexter huddle, planning how to best find the base. “Bubbles is looking through the cave... I’ll fly over the city and see if I find anything interesting.” Blossom states as she flies high.

“What was that place I saved your life at?” – “Oh, uh... that was the Megaville Power plant. They were using it as a factory.” – “Right, I’ll search the ruins to see if they lead to the base.” She flies off faster than the speed of sound, leaving Dexter to himself. He can’t fly...

He turns to the house as he hears something. Megas is being activated and begins to walk toward him. It looks down and Coop’s voice blares through the speaker system. “That was a sweet battle, Big Man. Sorry it took me so long to get here, I was enjoying the view.” – “No problem. The Powerpuff Girls are looking for a terrorist base ran by the people who we were fighting. The people that were eaten by the worms are being held hostage there!”

“Right! I’ll find out what I can!” Coop says as Megas begins to run off, quickly being lost in the torrential rains.

Now sufficiently sure he is alone, Dexter begins to talk to his armor. “Deedee, do you know where they are?” – “Yes... but... it’s too late to find them...” Dexter gasps. “W-What? Why?” After he asks that question, a horrible rumbling can be felt nearby!

It feels like the world is splitting in two! “WHAT’S G-G-GOING ON?!” Dexter tries to ask, losing his footing and falling forward. The rumbling intensifies to nearly impossible levels! The ground below him is moving so powerfully that his body is slipping around in the muck left behind by the rain! Horrible breaking and snapping noises can be heard and the pavement begins to shatter and fragment...

The rumbling finally stops, but Dexter is blasted away by a powerful gust! He stumbles over the ground, trying not to be carried along by the wind! He forces himself to the ground by jamming his arm into the pavement, locking himself in place. He looks up, hardly believing what he is seeing!

Megaville... the entire city of Megaville is being risen from the ground! “WHAT THE HELL?!” Dexter lets out in utter disbelief! The wind still forcing him to stay in place! The fissures left in the ground from the rising City ignite with gas pipes and electric wires touching, causing a spectacular chain of explosions!

The heavy rain begins to river down into the crater being left behind by the city! The wind finally stops and Dexter can see what caused it! Giant engines the size of buildings seemingly built into the underbelly of Megaville! Dexter finally rises to his feet and attempts to run to the city, but its way too far to jump to...

From his view down in the outskirts he can see that there are giant hatches built into the underbelly as well... as if an entire base were sleeping underneath Megaville this whole time!

Dexter merely gawks at the awe inspiring sight as it continues to climb to the clouds. Then something truly unbelievable happens! The engines shut off and the rain stops... The giant whirl above the clouds lowers and consumes the city!

“NO!” Dexter yells as he tries with all his might to jump up to the floating city! His mighty leap is one for the record books, but it’s not even halfway!

‘Dexter... you can do it! Trust your instincts and embody the power of Harpuia!’ Deedee yells out as Dexter begins to fall!

He lands and jumps again... and again... and again, but he loses sight of Megaville as it disappears behind the clouds. “DAMN IT! I will not let them down!” He yells as he tries to jump again, but this time he harnesses the wind!

“FLY DAMN YOU, FLY!” He screams at his armor as the wind around him begins to bend to his will! His armored feet begin to let off a rotational energy not unlike Elly when she flew and Dexter quickly gains altitude! Not even content to savor the experience, Dexter makes a Bee-Line right for the clouds!

As he passes the layer of clouds, he goes over them and the sun finally peaks out. High in the sky, the City of Megaville is surrounded by seemingly magical forces. Dexter floats far away from the city. From here, it looks like a small aquatic moon.

“Deedee... how do I even get in?” He asks, getting no answer. “Hah, kind of a stupid question at this point, huh?” He rushes for the suspended city as fast as he can!

“FROST MISSILE!” He yells as loud as he can as he begins to spin and form incredibly dense ice around himself! The high speed and rotation cause him to collide with and drill into the side of the storm in the sky! The missile spins faster and faster and bores ever so slowly into the protective cocoon, before Dexter punctures it and cannonballs into the suspended city!

He busts out of the ice and begins to lower to the ground where Megas is standing Blossom and Buttercup are also there. As he lowers, they all gawk at him.

“D-Dexter... how did you do that... a-and how are you flying?” Blossom lets out, amazed. “No time for that. I know where the base is.” – “Don’t you want to at least tell us what’s going on?” Buttercup asks, looking into the sky and horizon, the city entirely suspended in the air and surrounded by water.

“I don’t know... but what I do know is the base is right below us!” Dexter says as he stomps the ground. “Their base lifted the city into the giant whirlpool in the sky and we are being held here. We need to go into the base, stop them and save the people!”

“Bubbles, I can break us out of here at any time, but as of right now... I can’t let anyone know I’m a hero and most of all... I can’t let the Knights see me.” – “Huh? O-Okay... I’ll just...” Bubbles stutters, at a loss as to what to do. “Look... there aren’t many people in my cell, but there ARE a lot down the halls! Ruby and her mom too... save them, Bubbles... then get out of here as fast as possible!”

“Right!” She nods as she fires down the hall. Lynn sighs and sits next to one of the civilians in the cell.

“Who are you, anyway?” He asks. Lynn looks over with a mixture of different emotions in her eyes. Her head droops down and eyes the floor...

A castle in the sky... a paradise in the sky... a prison in the sky. For something so magical, the people within have never felt greater fear than at this moment. They realize they are witnessing power greater than they thought possible. Now that their eyes are open; they can see the truth!

Last edited by Birdofterror on Mon Mar 11, 2013 4:50 pm, edited 2 times in total.

"It's such a fine line between clever and stupid."

The Chronometal Wars, a fan-fiction taking place in the PPGD Universe. Catastrophe is the only certainty.

The Chronometal Wars as a whole has been all over the place. While a lot of the story of the First War was told in the original story, it was mostly vague and a lot of details were left out. This story encompasses the entirety of the First War and every detail within.

The story at hand is in the red, the original story and everything told within is in the orange, The Panic is in the pink and the Barasian War, also a part of the second story is in the Purple.

Chapter 1: Knight in the Daylight Dexter, Megas and the Powerpuff Girls all take their defense to the next level, saving countless people and defending them in key locations. Dexter tries to rebuild his old lab in an attempt to create another safe haven. However, in his attempt to repair the lab he goes under attack by a strange woman with a green suit of armor not unlike his own gold suit. He takes the fight to her atop the Megaville wind farm and discovers that she is not alone and a strange crystal he discovers has a deeper purpose than once thought. Bubbles and Lynn go in depth about what this war means.

Chapter 2: Ignition Dexter returns the crystal to the Professor to have it analyzed, but is sidetracked by a strange rumbling he feels in the ground. Along the way to discovering what's causing it, he comes into partial contact with a strange girl. She tells Dexter multiple times to simply rely on instinct- when he does, the results are extraordinary! Another strange person, now known as a 'Knight' goes into combat with Dexter, who barely escapes the ensuing battle alive. During the battle, Dexter shatters a crystal turning off a massive factory which was the source of the tremors in town. Bubbles and Lynn talk over the futility of resistance, but the necessity of kindness.

Chapter 3: Shadows of the Past Barely escaping from the battle with the second Knight with his life thanks to Buttercup's assistance, Dexter returns to the Powerpuff Girls' house to get a status update from the professor. During the recaps, one of the crystals go out of control and destroy the scanning machine. The night seems to be much darker than usual and Dexter once again tracks down the strange girl in his visions to her source. It turns out the girl is none-other than Deedee, Dexter's dead sister. His armor is imbued with her consciousness! While exploring the darkness, Dexter finds yet another Knight and a crystal much larger than usual. The knight reveals herself to be Olga, someone Dexter hesitated to fight. Barely surviving the encounter, Dexter is left in the dark forest to tend to his wounds.

Chapter 4: The Cold Truth Limping away from the forest with the sun finally starting to rise, Dexter thinks to himself the intentions of Olga and indeed all of the Knights. The school which was being used to defend people is completely destroyed and Buttercup goes to warn the rest of the Powerpuff Girls, but it's too late- everyone at their house is also devoured by the giant worms! Dexter makes contact with Micheal, the supposed Leader of the Knights and notices a giant seemingly magical anomaly behind the clouds! Dexter as well as the entirety of the Powerpuff Girls do battle with all four Knights and come out victorious, but they are far from defeated- it seems they were only testing them. Megaville is somehow thrown into the sky and Dexter has to overcome personal limitations to pierce the heavens and rejoin the Powerpuff Girls. Bubbles fights within a hidden base in an attempt to save Lynn, who for some reason denies the gesture and tells Bubbles to save everyone 'else.'

(Edit: Making this a recap, as well as a status update)

Not a part, but more of a status update.

I'm going on a slight hiatus, may be a few days, weeks, but shouldn't be any longer than a month at max. I'll still be around to answer questions and respond to criticisms, just no new parts for a while.

I'm going back to the planning stage to find out the best way to handle the coming chapters. So hang in there, the people who read this but don't respond. I know you're there, the thread gets views even if you don't say anything!

"It's such a fine line between clever and stupid."

The Chronometal Wars, a fan-fiction taking place in the PPGD Universe. Catastrophe is the only certainty.

A week. Not too bad of a hiatus, but three times longer than my usual update times. I came up with some new story elements that I will implement here. A large three part series involving someone else interacting with the Knights as Dexter goes to figure everything out. I will post each part a chapter apart from each other. So this will not be followed up until chapter 5 is complete and the finale will be after chapter 6, naturally.(Note: There is no chapter 6. The final part is in between the first and second halves of the Epilogue.)

---------------------------------------------------------------------

The Chronometal Wars-THE FIRST WAR SUBSTORY--The Belle in White-Act 1

A kind of soothing darkness permeates the area, the sound of beings moving about ever a constant. This shadowy area has seen a downfall of activity and it seems that an ever-present calm has fallen over it.

In a small well-lit room off to the side, a young girl in white plays with her dog. From a glance, she seems to be normal in all ways- giggling happily and hugging her pet. Yet anyone who has gotten a chance to know her knows she is far from normal.

“Okay. That’s enough for today.” The girl says, standing up along with her strange dog. She walks over to a conspicuous terminal along the wall of her heavily decorated childish room, kicking toys away as she walks to it.

“It’s time to do what daddy said. So now that we’re set, we can go! You ready, Girly?” – “Yes, Yes! A hundred times, Yes!” The odd ‘thing’ lets out as the girl lets off an innocent smile as she begins to access the terminal.

In a mere instant, the room around them ebbs and whirls, a disorienting sight. “Wha... g-getting nauseous...!” The strange dog lets out as the girl kneels down and rubs his belly causing him for forget his illness and huff and pant as if it were a real dog. In a few short moments, the room stops spinning and they find themselves elsewhere.

“Okay, let’s go, Girly!” – “Hup Hup!” They both walk out of the dark room and into the sunlight. Across the horizon they see a city. Of course, it is none other than Megaville, the City of heroes!

(================================================)

Less than a day ago, a large disturbance was felt in the northern Mountains of Megaville. Shortly after, the entire city came under attack. From that time, Doctor X of Black Eden has been incredibly curious as to the goings on in Megaville, but in depth scanning is impossible without going to the source.

So he sent his daughter Bell to scout it out. She is very strong and capable. X doesn’t think that this mission of hers has any real danger attached to it. He, like everyone else involved in this war, is going to learn that there is no safety from these wars. Not even for someone as powerful as Bell.

(================================================)

Bell casually walks into the western suburb of Megaville and is met with fleeing people. They run past her without as much as making eye contact. “Girly, scanning time!” – “OH BOY!” Gir’s head opens up to reveal a kind of satellite dish and it spins around, scanning the area.

They walk on, Gir making a bunch of beep and boop noises with his mouth, the noises obviously not helping the scan, but Bell doesn’t seem to mind.

The gentle wind picks up and Bell’s hair reacts beautifully. Bell herself doesn’t seem to care too much about the fair weather and continues on. Gir stops in his tracks and sniffs his hand, before pointing up.

“Captain, there’s something ANOMALOUS up there!” He says with a dumb grin on his face, a giant dish sticking out of his head. Bell looks up the windmill. “Well, let’s go see, shall we?” She asks as she picks Gir up and flies to the top of the tower.

She lands at the top and she sees someone. It appears to be a woman in green armor, tending to a strange silver and black crystal. She hasn’t noticed Bell yet. She talks to herself all the while.

“Soon... this world will know Model M’s power... not even Dexter can stop this.” – “Dexter, huh?” Bell asks inquisitively, causing the green-clad woman to rapidly turn around and adopt a defensive position, before she realizes the girl up here isn’t anyone she was expecting.

“Who are you, kid?” – “You may call me Bell- but I will be the one asking the questions, GOT IT?!” Bell snaps with an unexpected bit of hostility, causing the green girl to flinch a small bit before she regains her footing. Bell continues:

“You mentioned Dexter. You are his enemy?” – “Y-Yeah... he’s going to come here soon and I’m going to kill him.” – “Kill him?” Bell gasps. The girl squints, wondering the intentions of this strange girl butting in on her plans.

“Is there something wrong with killing him?” – “You can’t do it. We tried.” – “We? Who are you anyway?” Bell smiles a small bit and picks Girly up. “I already told you, I’m Bell. My daddy said that Dexter ‘reached his full potential’ and so we can’t kill him.”

“Yeah well, Dexter has a lot more to learn. He’s not in his prime yet- and I’ll prove it by mounting his broken corpse on my spear. Model M has no further use for Dexter’s life now that Model D is awakened.” – “Models? I heard you talking about that when I landed. What are they?” – “Is this an interview?” Bell scowls and puts Gir down.

“It would be wise to do what I say.” – “Enough. I am not taking orders from a little bitch like you! THUNDER LANCE!” She roars as a lightning rod strikes the middle of the Windmill and she picks it up, pointing it at Bell.

Bell charges her down, Gir all the while singing about floating like a butterfly or something like that. The woman Dodges her nimbly but fails to land any real attacks either. She is amazed that this little girl is so fast, but the woman ceases to worry about her wellbeing and toys with her a little bit.

She jumps back and blocks every one of Bell’s attacks with one hand, much to Bell’s surprise. A human is overpowering her! Bell jumps back and puts her arms down.

“Who are you...?” She asks. She is not tired, but she recognizes the futility of this combat. “I am Elly, one of the four Knights. I will use Model M to bring this world into the light and rebuild it in an image long forgotten!” – “Noble... now, what is Model M, this crystal?” She asks, looking at the strange geode.

As she looks at it, it seems to resonate a small bit, causing the woman to raise an eyebrow. “Curious...” – “How so?” – “Model M seems to recognize you...” Bell shakes her head- “That’s impossible. I’ve never seen this before in my life.” – “Maybe he’s seen you in ‘his’ life?” – “He?”

Bell is very curious about the crystal and approaches it without her guard up. The girl could have used this moment to land a killer blow, but instead she puts away her thunder lance and joins Bell next to the metallic crystal.

Gir walks up to it and puts his hand on it. “It’s afraid...” He lets out, before breaking out into laughter and walking off elsewhere.

The crystal shines and blinks. Something spectacular to look at to be sure.

“Did you know Susan before he died?” The girl asks. Bell looks over with a strange twinkle in her eye. “S-Susan...? What does Susan have to do with this...?” The woman can see the want in her eyes. She DID know Susan and was apparently very close to him. She puts her hand on the crystal and talks to Bell.

“Model M- this crystal, is Susan, Bell.” – “What...? But, how?” The woman smiles and continues. “Micheal, our leader brought him back with help from Olga. Do you know Olga too?” Bell pauses a small moment and shakes her head. “No, I don’t... the name isn’t familiar.” – “She is Susan’s sister.”

Bell looks back over to the crystal with a mixture of emotions in her eyes. She begins to talk to the woman again.

“This crystal gave off the same reading a large explosion a day ago gave off. Would you know why?” The green girl sighs. “Yeah, I would. The largest of our Model Ms were destroyed by three random soldiers. We underestimated them and it cost us dearly. We managed to scavenge a few crystals from the wreckage and from it... this was born.” She says as she pats the crystal again.

“I see. Thank you for your time.” Bell says with choked up haste. “Come on, Girly. We are going home." She picks Gir up and begins to fly away. As she flies off, she notices that a large storm picks up and a powerful whirlwind expands near the top of the Windmill, where the Green Woman was.

She lands back in the dark cave and accesses the terminal to return to Black Eden.

(================================================)

Telling Dr. X all about the woman in green and the entirety of what Model M is and how it relates to Susan and the energy detected a day ago, Bell finds herself anxious to be sent back out to investigate further. X considers her pleas to return, but is cautious due to the fact that the Woman was far stronger than her.

X was sure that there were no beings left in Megaville that could Challenge Bell one on one, but it appears he was wrong. Although it is risky to send Bell back to the city of heroes, he must find out what is going on.

Bell goes once again to get involved in the Chronometal Wars. Will she ever return?

Bubbles crashes down the halls blasting all robots out of her way and opening the gates to let the people out as fast as possible. Everyone scrambles out of the cages, but one person asks- “Where do we go?” Bubbles stops in her tracks and thinks. The City is suspended in the air... the only way out is up.

“Stay on me. I’ll get you guys out of here.” They rush down the dimly lit halls, only a few robots remaining which Bubbles makes short work of. Bubbles bashes open the gates one by one before she has almost a hundred people at her back. They make it to a kind of elevator before Bubbles starts thinking...

Why are the Knights letting her do this? Shouldn’t they be stopping her? As she thinks she can hear large explosions going off in the base.

“My sisters! They must be here! Come on, everyone into the elevator... it can only fit a couple of you at a time so I’ll try to defend what I can. Women and children first!” As she says that she realizes there are no children, but she continues anyway.

People file into the elevator shaft and it goes to an upper level. Bubbles follows the elevator while in the shaft. The walls are coated in glass. She can see through it to see the absolutely gargantuan base that was sleeping below Megaville all this time.

More explosions go off and the people arrive on the upper level. Bubbles brings the elevator down as fast as she can to save as many people as possible. The structural integrity of the elevator begins to wane before even half the people arrive in the upper level! The cables snap and Bubbles lifts the elevator up herself!

Explosions begin to sound like they are getting closer so Bubbles has to do something drastic! After everyone on the elevator arrives at the upper level, she destroys the elevator and flies back to the bottom. She gathers everyone remaining and flies them up the shaft. As soon as they arrive at the top, a large scale explosion takes place on the base level... and all Bubbles can think about is Lynn.

“Please be safe...”

(================================================)

“Why haven’t the Knights come for us yet...?” Lynn thinks to herself. She stands up as a large scale explosion blasts down the halls, nearly deafening! She walks up to the gate and rips it off its hinges and throws it to the side. The people in the prison are in awe. “You are-“ – “If you tell anyone what I am I’ll kill you myself! Now get out of here, save yourselves!” With a mixture of fear and gratitude, the people quickly escape the exploding floor.

Lynn runs down the halls with several of the people, before they arrive at a broken elevator shaft. She stares up at the upper floor. Several people here, though silent- have chosen to stick with Lynn. Probably a smart choice.

“Hold on.” She says as she holds her arms out- people quickly grabbing onto them. She flies up the shaft, much to the peoples’ surprise and she arrives at the top of the shaft. They detach from her and runaway, except one person. “Please... there are more people down there... you have to save them too.” Right after he says that, a giant explosion that nearly caves in the floor erupts, blasting debris all over the area, the floor they were recently on was just destroyed...

“I’m sorry... but they are already dead... now RUN!” The man reluctantly accepts her words and runs away. Lynn turns around to the elevator shaft and looks through the glass windows. The entire lab is exploding, not just this area.

“What is causing this much destruction? Could it be the Powerpuff Girls...?” Lynn looks around at the haphazard wreckage. “No. They would never cause this much collateral damage if they knew people were here... so who...?”

After she asks the question to herself, she hears a high pitch scream followed by an amazing explosion that causes her eyes to dilate and a shocked expression to cross her face. “BELL?!”

(================================================)

“What are these explosions...? Is Bubbles doing this?” Dexter asks as the ground rumbles, the pavement below Megaville crumbling as plumes of fire and wreckage blast out of every crack.

A small distance away, another explosion takes place, but this time someone comes out of it. It’s Bubbles!

“Guys, there are people down here that need help, please come as fast as possible! Who knows when the next explosion will occur?!” Without so much as a greeting, everyone rushes to action and fly into the hole in the ground and gather up as many people as possible. The hole is too small to support more than one person at a time.

“I GOT IT!” Coop blares as he digs Megas’s hand into the pavement and carves out a hole which everyone flies out of. Countless people are saved as the explosions still erupt, shaking this floating city.

“What did you do down there, Bubbles?” Blossom asks now that everyone is safe. After that question something strikes Bubbles.

“Wait... it wasn’t you guys who caused these explosions?” Bubbles asks, confused. She was so sure it was them causing it. “No, it wasn’t us... we thought it was you.” Buttercup says as the explosions continue.

They quickly muse before someone else crawls out of the hole in the ground. It’s Lynn, with several people following her. Before she meets with everyone she turns around and whispers to everyone who followed her out.

“I never flew... I never had super strength... don’t say ANY of this to ANYONE, got it?!” The people nod and thank her and run to the group.

She walks over to the group, who are glad she is safe. But they still all have the same question... what is causing these explosions? The explosions finally stop, leaving everyone to think in relative peace.

“So if it wasn’t us... and it wasn’t Bubbles... who is causing these explosions?” – “I know who’s doing this, but I can hardly believe it myself...” – “Who?” Lynn looks up into Blossom’s eyes with a burning certainty in them. These next words will be the absolute truth and Blossom can feel their intensity before they even leave her mouth.

“Bell...”

A short distance away, a giant pillar of fire explodes from beneath the road and a being flies out of it! It’s not Bell, though... It’s Micheal!

“Finally... it’s over. Now we can begin!” He yells as a giant worm bursts out of the pavement and rushes to a Giant Building in the distance along with Micheal. The group is baffled that they are being completely ignored...

“We have to go after him. Who knows what he’s going to do!” Dexter yells. “On it!” Coop yells as he chases down the worm, before the ground below him gives way! Two worms explode out of the ground and coil Megas! “COOP!” – “It’s okay, I can take these sorry sons-a, you guys go stop Mike!” Dexter nods and flies off with the Powerpuff Girls, leaving Lynn with the civilians.

She beckons them away from the battle and over to a nearby one story building, where they can be somewhat safe for now.

They fly through the floating city, the clouds replaced with Ice Bergs and the sky replaced with an ocean. Micheal goes up the tallest building along with the worm as it coils around the sky scraper.

The Chronometal Wars-THE FIRST WAR- Chapter 5: A Plan’s FruitionPart 2: The Red City

The sun washing over the oceanic sky gives the city a kind of Atlantian feel to it. Sunset approaches, casting a red glow over the submerged city in the sky as Dexter and the Powerpuff Girls chase down Micheal to the tallest City in Megaville.

Megacorp.

The giant robotic worm coils around the building without damaging it and rests its head atop the pinnacle. Micheal also lands there. Dexter tries to approach them, but is beaten back by a strange dark field!

“Gah, wh-what is this?” Dexter grunts as he attempts to force his way through the field. No matter his attempts, it doesn’t seem to budge. Whatever is casting this shield is stronger than anything he has punched through so far. It seems to be a black aura encompassing a large circle around the building. Dexter looks down to see that the base of the building is not effected. Perhaps they could enter it from the bottom and make their way up?

Dexter flies down only to have something zoom past his face. At first he is simply counting his blessing it didn’t hit him, but then another passes by him... then another...

Dexter looks behind him to see a mortifying sight! The entire city is swarmed with flying machines, zipping around and breaking into buildings. A booming voice permeates the city:

“The people who have rejected the light... the people who were released from their atonement without having learned anything... they are beyond redemption. PURGE THE CITY!”

“OH NO!” Bubbles lets out as she flies to the robots, taking as many of them out as she can without waiting for her sisters to react! “Bubbles has the right idea, Micheal isn’t important now! We have to make the city safe for the people!” Blossom says as she too flies to the city to do battle with the robots.

Dexter lands on the pavement and talks to Buttercup.

“I’m sorry, but this is something I feel I need to do, Buttercup.” – “What do you mean?” – “I’m going up there. I have to know why I was needed, why they needed me for such a short time then cast me aside to die! I will take the fight to Micheal and get my answers, even if it’s over his dead body. Please help these people... and if you can, find my parents. I have work to do!”

Buttercup seems speechless at first. The fire burning in Dexter’s eyes, as if he is going on a journey he was waiting his whole life for, a journey he may not survive. Something more important than life itself. Buttercup smiles and nods.

“Don’t die, Dexter.” He nods and charges into the building. Buttercup looks up, the giant black aura around the city churning and ebbing as the red sunset distorts across the magical ocean in the sky. Buttercup flies back into the city to fight off the robots!

(================================================)

Dexter charges up the levels, D-Saber drawn, ready to finally come to an answer for all of this madness. These Knights used him, they used his sister... they are using Mandark! There are so many questions without any answer, but Dexter is adamant about this. He will climb to the top of this tower and get his answers, even if it means beating them out of any of the Knights! Any of them...

He slices and blasts through the token resistance in the building as the city begins to rumble... more and more machines flood the city being released from the base underneath Megaville. These truly are the end times. This isn’t a game anymore- this is genocide!

(================================================)

To their horror, the machines aren’t shooting mock blasts anymore. They are shooting to kill! The Powerpuff Girls do their best to block every attack and destroy all of the robots, but there are simply too many of them! Hundreds... thousands! The building Lynn stocked everyone in is no more, now a burning husk as everyone runs for their lives!

The ruins of the city offer no protection, the robots taking blind pot shots killing many people! Everyone, Megas included does what they can but there are thousands of these killing machines! Horror crosses their faces, as they never imagined it could have come to this!

Blood floods the streets as even more thousands of robots cascade into the city... this is genocide... this is madness...

“STOP IT!!!” Bubbles yells out, blasting hundreds of them away at once, only to have a thousand replace them... even in her pure rage, they know no end.

“This can’t be happening...!” Blossom huffs, defending a dozen people, only to have a dozen die right in front of her. The city is being completely liquidated and there is nothing they can do about it...

“Oh my god...” Buttercup lets out as a giant worm bursts out of the ground and smashes an entire avenue, ending the lives of countless people in one blast...

(================================================)

The carnage and inhumanity ignites Dexter’s purpose as he fights his way up the building as fast as possible! He nears the top floor, only to be met with three of the four knights...

Elly, Drax and Olga.

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?!” Dexter yells out, drawing his weapons, gun in one hand and sword in the other.

“They turned away from the light. They refused to accept it.” Elly responds.

“FUCK YOUR LIGHT!” He roars as he charges for her faster than he ever has before, catching her off guard as she barely has enough time to defend! The other two close in on Dexter as he rolls backwards and drops an ice charge on the ground, blanketing the area in blinding snow!

Through the blizzard, he charges Drax down and slams his head into a wall. Dexter has felt this way before. Absolute rage, the purest truth. But this time he feels like it has a kind of guidance... his rage is not a handicap... he feels like he is harnessing his rage to its purest form. A divine anger.

Drax recovers and all three of them charge him down only to have him lock his saber into every one of their weapons. Elly’s Lance, Drax’s Sword and Olga’s Double Blades all clash with Dexter’s single blade and to their horror, he is pushing all of them back as Dexter glows a bright gold!

“I WILL NOT LET ANY OF YOU GET AWAY WITH THIS!” He yells as he cleaves the entire room, causing a huge explosion to blow away this entire level of the building.

(================================================)

The robots outside seem to finally be slowing down and the heroes finally get some semblance of control, as everyone is being protected. At least... everyone left...

The giant explosion near the top of the building catches Buttercup’s eye. Blossom yells out: “Wait, where’s Dexter?!” Buttercup points to the smoke rising from the building.

“He’s on his own...?!” – “We have to save these people, Blossom... this is something he feels he has to do.”

Dexter finds himself near the top of the building, all of the Knights other than Micheal beaten before him. He has no time to inflict his own brand of justice on them so he continues up to find the man himself.

Outside the building, the robot assault has finally been quelled, but something about this situation seems off...

Before anyone has a chance to react, giant balls of ice come crashing down, destroying countless buildings! Ice and sleet rip through the air as the sky comes falling down around them! The Powerpuff Girls jump to action to prevent a giant glacier from falling onto the people below and with help from Megas, they throw it off of the floating city.

As it falls they realize, the entire top half of the oceanic orb has come undone... but worse than that, they see why the robots have stopped coming!

They are all flying away from the city! Countless thousands of robots sprawl in all directions like a plague; the neighboring cities don’t stand a chance!

“I... I don’t know... we need to protect these people... but...” – “Don’t worry. I’ll get word to the other cities.” Lynn lets out, whipping out a semi-futuristic looking device on her wrist.

“Will that be enough?” – “It has to be. There’s no other option.” Blossom gulps and nods. “R-Right...”

The red sunset comes to a close as the last rays of light end.

(================================================)

Dexter marches up the stairs. His rage chokes him, barely being able to tear his way from killing each and every one of those Knights, as they lay unconscious. He has something more important to do... someone more important to kill.

His blade drags from his limp hand, sparking along the ground as his eyes refuse to regain color. His rage both consumes and guides him. He has all rational thought, but this kind of unbridled fury grants him what feels like immortality...

“Dexter... you have always been an angry child... but now is the time to control your anger. Now is the time to put it to a higher purpose.” Deedee whispers through the armor.

“My anger is what got you killed...” He says, while at the same time retaining his anger, slowly walking up the stairs to the final level.

“Dexter... Mandark was the one who killed me. Not you.” – “You’re wrong... he may have fired the gun, but I’m the one who loaded the bullet. Without my doing none of this would have ever happened.” – “Don’t talk like that- not now!” – “You misunderstand me... I am not going to stop. This kind of internal rage... that what I’ve done has spawned so much death around us... my source of anger is ME! I am my own worst enemy... I am my greatest power. Today, I put my self hatred to use. I will save this world and kill Mandark once and for all!”

He cleaves down the door to the roof and begins to climb.

(================================================)

“Wait... where’s Ruby? Where’s her mom?” Lynn asks, worried as she looks at the survivors.

“Ruby...? I don’t know. I didn’t see any children in the holding cells...” Bubbles responds, catching Lynn’s ears. She’s right. There was not a single child involved in any of this.

Then... where are they?

Lynn runs around the ruins of the city, now flooded in both magical water and the blood of those they failed to protect. The bodies of the people around them are gruesome, but it doesn’t seem like Ruby’s Mom was here. Lynn returns to the group.

“Any idea where the kids were taken?” – “Not just the kids... almost half of the people that were taken are unaccounted for.” – “You don’t think that... the exploding base...” Lynn hesitates to finish and shakes her head. “No... We can’t lose hope. We have to find them.”

Lynn casually walks back to the hole she crawled out of before, now widened by Megas’s intervention. Bubbles tries to stop her, but she can’t find the words. Instead, she runs down the hole with her.

The giant worm that coiled up the building looms over the top of the building, its giant maw closed... for now.

“Welcome, Dexter.” – “SHUT THE HELL UP AND DIE!” He says as he brandishes his weapons and Micheal raises his hand as a gesture for him to stop.

“Surely, you want answers, first?” Dexter growls and lowers his weapon. His anger still so omnipresent that he can barely concentrate on anything other than ripping his throat out.

“WHY...?!” – “Why are we doing this? A fine question. Let me explain.” He says as he floats down off of the massive crystal that encompasses more than half of the entire roof area, scythe still drawn.

“Such a long time ago, I had a dream. More of a vision, really. A vision of the world in its perfect state. One both guided by and living for God.” – “YOU’RE INSANE!” Dexter roars as he grinds his teeth, but still holds himself back from attacking.

“Insane? Dexter... I have seen God myself. I have seen everything. I have seen the world before the light... the world without the light... and what happens if you resist me this day. The absolute darkness that awaits us all if you resist. Dexter... it’s not too late to turn back.”

“Turn back...?! TURN BACK?! Is that what this is to you?! Something I just have to ‘turn back’ from?! I will NEVER turn back, not again! I will fight you, I will beat you, I will kill you and I will fix all the damage you caused! The lives you have broken today scream for your blood, Micheal!”

“I see. Then I guess today is the day. I will bring this world into the light and nothing you can do here can possibly stop me- not with Model M on my side!” Micheal yells as the crystal ebbs a solid black color and Micheal glows gray and surges with power!

His scythe triples in size and becomes double bladed. The ice upon it morphs into steel and bone.

The entire floating island rumbles and quakes as the giant black aura over the building fades. The clouds in the sky churn and swirl around the pinnacle of the building.

The souls from the past... Deedee... Mandark... they serve the opposite sides once more. This time, it isn't a petty rivalry- it's an entire planet on the line! The final battle approaches and only one side can be victorious.

"It's such a fine line between clever and stupid."

The Chronometal Wars, a fan-fiction taking place in the PPGD Universe. Catastrophe is the only certainty.